NVIDIA on Thursday announced that its Icera 410 LTE multi-mode data modem for tablets and clam shell devices has been validated for use on AT&T’s 4G LTE network. “Validation with AT&T is an achievement that paves the way for NVIDIA Icera-powered LTE devices on the AT&T network through this year and next,” said Stan Boland, senior vice president of Mobile Communications at NVIDIA. The Icera 410 LTE modem offers 4G LTE connectivity of up to 50Mbps alongside HSPA+, 3G and 2G connectivity. NVIDIA’s modem is the company’s latest step toward bringing LTE and Tegra 3 compatibility to smartphones. So far, manufacturers have been forced to scrap NVIDIA’s quad-core processor in devices bound for LTE networks in the U.S. Read on for NVIDIA’s press release.

NVIDIA Icera Modem Chipset Validated on AT&T LTE Network

SANTA CLARA, CA — (Marketwire) — 05/24/2012 — NVIDIA today announced that the NVIDIA® Icera® 410 LTE multimode data modem chipset for tablets and clamshell devices has been tested and validated for operation on the AT&T 4G LTE network.

AT&T qualification tests help ensure that product manufacturers can confidently select chipsets that integrate with connected devices and can quickly achieve final product qualification.

“Validation with AT&T is an achievement that paves the way for NVIDIA Icera-powered LTE devices on the AT&T network through this year and next,” said Stan Boland, senior vice president of Mobile Communications at NVIDIA.

The NVIDIA Icera 410 LTE modem delivers lightning-fast web browsing, video streaming and multiplayer gaming to tablets and clamshell devices. It is the first Icera modem to implement 4G LTE in NVIDIA’s software defined radio baseband processor. Together with its multimode radio transceiver, the chipset offers 4G LTE at category 2 data rates (up to 50 Mbps) as well as 4G HSPA+, 3G and 2G compatibility.

NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang previously mentioned that more Tegra 3-powered tablets would be coming to the market this summer, starting at the low price of $199. At the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting last week, vice president Rob Csonger revealed Kai, a plan to democratize its quad-core Tegra 3 system-on-a-chip. NVIDIA is looking to offer tablets that are more powerful than Amazon’s Kindle Fire, but that will be offered at the same low price point. “Our strategy on Android is simply to enable quad-core tablets running Android Ice Cream Sandwich to be developed and brought out to market at the $199 price point, and the way we do that is a platform we’ve developed called Kai,” he said. “So this uses a lot of the secret sauce that’s inside Tegra 3 to allow you to develop a tablet at a much lower cost, by using a lot of innovation that we’ve developed to reduce the power that’s used by the display and use lower cost components within the tablet.”

[Via The Verge]

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NVIDIA sees its mobile system-on-a-chip graphics solutions surpassing the performance of the Xbox 360 in the coming years. A new graph the company shared with AnandTech highlights the performance of Tegra chips in comparison to those found within PCs and gaming consoles. The solid lines are estimated performance, while the dotted lines are trends. NVIDIA estimates that at some point in 2013, mobile graphic performance will match the Xbox 360 and by 2014, mobile performance will surpass that of the Xbox 360. Of course processor performance is hardly the only piece of the puzzle when it comes to gaming, and Microsoft and Sony will each have new consoles on the market in 2014.

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Following rumors of a $199 Google-branded tablet, NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said he believes that more Tegra 3-powered tablets will be coming to the market this summer at the same low price. By removing things like expensive memory, a $199 tablet is quite feasible, Huang said. Amazon’s immensely popular Kindle Fire tablet — which shipped with just 8GB of storage and no cameras — is available at the $199 price point and managed to capture 14% of the tablet market in its debut quarter. Huang has been left disappointed with the development of Android, however, and he believes Microsoft’s Windows 8 platform could make a real dent in the tablet market. ”Android hasn’t developed as I’d hoped,” he told the The New York Times. “For many people, though, work is still the primary reason to have a computer. They want Windows to work well, they want Outlook to work well. A tablet running Windows 8 with Tegra could be very nice.”

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During Apple’s press event on Wednesday, the Cupertino-based company took direct aim at NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 processor, claiming its own A5X chip delivers four times the performance. The company neglected to show hard evidence to support its claim, however. Ken Brown, a spokesman for NVIDIA, told ZDNet that while it was “certainly flattering” to be mentioned by Apple, the performance claims are unfounded without more data. “We don’t have the benchmark information,” Brown said. “We have to understand what the application was that was used. Was it one or a variety of applications? What drivers were used? There are so many issues to get into with benchmark.” When Apple’s new iPad goes on sale on March 16th, NVIDIA plans to run tests in order to determine whether or not Apple’s claims hold water. “At some point it will become more clear what the performance really is,” Brown concluded. “For now, Apple has a really generic statement.”

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LG on Thursday unveiled its first quad-core smartphone, the Optimus 4X HD. The handset features a 1.5GHz Tegra 3 processor with a 4.7-inch True HD IPS display and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The Optimus 4X HD will also come equipped with 16GB of internal storage, 1GB of RAM, a 2,150 mAh battery, an 8-megapixel rear camera a and 1.3-megapixel front facing camera. “LG introduced the world’s first Dual-Core smartphone exactly one year ago and today we’re announcing the next milestone,” said Dr. Jong-seok Park, president and CEO of LG Mobile. “But speed in itself isn’t what makes LG Optimus 4X HD unique, it’s the benefit we’re bringing to customers with the HD multimedia experience in a mobile form factor.” Even with a quad-core processor, the phone is expected have impressive battery life thanks to NVIDIA’s  ”4-PLUS-1″ design, which uses a fifth “companion core”  for low processing activities and allows the phone to save battery life. The Optimus 4X HD will make its debut at next week’s Mobile World Congress. Read on for LG’s press release.

LG’S QUAD-CORE SMARTPHONE MAKES DEBUT AT 2012 MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS
LG Optimus 4X HD Takes Desktop Performance to the Mobile Space

SEOUL, Feb. 23, 2012 – LG today unveiled its first Quad-Core processor smartphone, LG Optimus 4X HD. Combining NVIDIA’s latest 1.5GHz Tegra 3 with True HD IPS display, the LG Optimus 4X HD delivers PC-like performance in the palm of one’s hand.

“LG introduced the world’s first Dual-Core smartphone exactly one year ago and today we’re announcing the next milestone,” said Dr. Jong-seok Park, President and CEO of LG Mobile Communications Company. “But speed in itself isn’t what makes LG Optimus 4X HD unique, it’s the benefit we’re bringing to customers with the HD multimedia experience in a mobile form factor.”

The NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor is the world`s only 4-PLUS-1™ Quad-Core mobile processor designed for high-level multimedia performance but utilizes a fifth battery-saver core to handle less demanding tasks such as active standby and music playback. When running at full speed, the 12-core graphics processing unit (GPU) in Tegra 3 delivers a visually rich experience and console-quality game playability.

Equipped with the True HD IPS display, the Optimus 4X HD guarantees the finest viewing experience with high resolution, clarity and no color or shape distortion. The Optimus 4X HD includes 16 GB internal memory and runs on the latest version of Android OS, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Besides the smooth and fast performance, the Optimus 4X HD boasts a 8-megapixel BSI (Backside Illumination) Sensor camera with LED flash and advanced multimedia features to enrich the overall multimedia experience.

And LG designers made sure that looks didn’t take a back seat to performance. The 8.9mm slim and sleek smartphone features a “prism-edged” design with enhanced materials and finish.

Additional information on the revolutionary new Optimus 4X HD will be available at LG Stand (Hall 8) at MWC 2012 from February 27 to March 1.

Key Specifications:
o Chipset: 1.5GHz Quad-Core processor (NVIDIA Tegra 3)
o Display: 4.7-inch (1280 x 720) True HD IPS
o Memory: 16GB eMMC and 1GB LP DDR2
o Camera: 8.0MP BSI Sensor (Rear) and 1.3MP (Front)
o OS: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
o Battery: 2,150mAh

During NVIDIA’s earnings call on Wednesday, CEO Jen-Hsun Huang told investors that quad-core Tegra 3 smartphones would ship this quarter. “This quarter we are expecting to ship Tegra 3 based superphones,” Huang said. “At Mobile World Congress is when we expect to announce these devices, and we expect to announce and ship them this quarter.” The company also announced that its 3G/4G LTE system on a chip will be coming to devices sometime this year. The current generation of LTE phones and tablets use radio chips that are separate from the processor, however numerous companies are looking to integrate LTE into a single chipset. ”We will have shipping modems this year, hopefully sooner than later,” Huang said. NVIDIA looks to compete with Qualcomm, which plans to soon release an integrated 4G LTE Snapdragon chipset.

[Via The Verge]

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Apple may be switching back to NVIDIA for the upcoming Mac Pro’s primary GPU, according to an anonymous source speaking with MIC Gadget. The new Mac Pros will reportedly feature Intel’s upcoming Ivy Bridge chipset, which features 22 nanometer transistor technology and is more efficient than the previous Sandy Bridge processors. The site also suggests that the Cupertino-based company has been testing new processors with 8 cores and 20MB of cache. The overheating issues that have plagued previous models have been solved thanks to the 30% increase in heat dissipation efficiency afforded by Intel’s new chips. For graphics in the new Mac Pro, Apple has reportedly chosen NVIDIA’s “Kepler” platform, which is set to be released around the same time as Intel’s new CPUs. Apple is expected to launch its refreshed Mac Pro line in the third quarter this year, MIC Gadget stated.

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One of the many reasons to buy an NVIDIA Tegra 2-powered device is support for Tegra Zone, NVIDIA’s exclusive gaming portal. Qualcomm is looking to combat the feature, however, and the company announced its own gaming portal on Thursday dubbed the Snapdragon GameCommand. Similar to Tegra Zone, GameCommand will have exclusive content that offers Snapdragon-optimized games for Qualcomm-powered devices. The app will initially only be available in North America and will be released in the Android Market on January 10th. Will we also see an O-Zone for OMAP-optimized games pop up soon? One can only wish. Read on for Qualcomm’s press release.

Snapdragon GameCommand to Launch on Android Market at CES 2012
UFC Fighter Alistair “The Reem” Overreem to be Onsite at Qualcomm’s Booth Showcasing One of the Latest Games Optimized for Snapdragon Devices

SAN DIEGO – January 5, 2012 – Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced that Qualcomm Innovation Center, Inc. (QuIC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, is expected to launch the Snapdragon GameCommand™ application to the Android Market on January 10, 2012, the opening day of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). At its heart, Snapdragon GameCommand will give mobile users a way to quickly discover, organize and access the latest Snapdragon optimized, featured and exclusive games. It will also provide feeds from top gaming news sites to help consumers stay up to date with the latest gaming news.

Snapdragon GameCommand will enable users to easily access and play many of the over 100 Snapdragon™ GamePack featured games on a wide range of mobile phones and tablets. The Snapdragon GamePack includes several titles exclusively available on Snapdragon devices running on Android for a limited time, including “Fight Game Heroes” from Khaeon Gamestudio. “Fight Game Heroes” features head-to-head battles with real MMA fighters, including multiple combat champion and UFC fighter Alistair “The Reem” Overeem. Visitors to CES will have the chance to meet the 6′-5″, 265-pound Overeem in-person and watch as he takes on Qualcomm executives in live rounds of “Fight Game Heroes” at the Qualcomm Booth in the LVCC South Hall, Upper Level, Booth #30313.

Other exclusive games that are accessible to consumers with Snapdragon GameCommand include titles such as “Bunny Maze 3D” from Eyelead Software and “Desert Winds™” from Southend Interactive. In “Bunny Maze 3D”, players help the adventurous Bunny get back his stolen carrots, in a cheerful journey through a magical world. In the “Desert Winds” mini-game players take on the persona of princess Amira as she battles gruesome creatures of the desert to save her people.

“With mobile gaming proliferating at a blistering pace, apps like Snapdragon GameCommand make it easy for consumers to discover and access the most advanced Snapdragon optimized games,” says Dave Durnil, director of advanced gaming at Qualcomm. “With exclusive and highly-anticipated games like ‘Fight Game Heroes’ and ‘The Reem’ Snapdragon mobile gaming is really starting to heat up.”

Snapdragon GameCommand is expected to be available in North America at launch and will be available in other markets at a later date.

This year’s Consumer Electronics Show is less than a week away and while HTC has plans to announce multiple devices with various carrier partners, the Taiwan-based vendor is seemingly saving its more powerful smartphones for next month. JPMorgan Chase analyst Alvin Kwok wrote in a note to investors on Wednesday that HTC plans to unveil multiple smartphones powered by NVIDIA’s quad-core Tegra 3 processor at Mobile World Congress in February. The handsets will also include Qualcomm’s MSM 8906 4G LTE chipsets, Taiwan-based financial newspaper Commercial Times quoted Kwok as having said. BGR exclusively reported details surrounding the upcoming HTC Edge smartphone, a quad-core Android phone set to be announced at MWC in February. HTC is also expected to unveil the HTC Ville, a dual-core handset thinner than Apple’s iPhone 4S, at next month’s show. While a number of analysts are forecasting a slow year for HTC, Kwok believes the vendor’s shipments will grow 15% in 2012 and 29% in 2013.

[Via DigiTimes]

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Lenovo may unveil a tablet powered by Google’s brand new Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) operating system by the end of the year, Engadget has learned. Reportedly, the device will also utilize NVIDIA’s brand new quad-core Tegra 3 processor clocked at 1.6GHz, arguably the most powerful mobile processor currently available. The tablet will also reportedly be equipped with a 10.1-inch display, 2GB of 1,600MHz DDR3 RAM, a fingerprint scanner that may also be used as an optical controller, a rear-facing camera and a USB port. The device is said to tout a “Fusion-Skin Body” as well, though we’re not quite sure what that means. We wouldn’t be surprised to hear an official announcement in the coming weeks if Lenovo wants its new tablet on store shelves in time for the holidays.

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NVIDIA has finally announced its quad-core ARM Cortex A9 Tegra 3 processor, previously codenamed “Kal-El,” that will deliver “PC-class performance” for tablets and smartphones. NVIDIA said the new chip will offer 3 times the graphics performance of its dual-core Tegra 2 chip and it will consume up to 61% less power. If a user is listening to music or using a phone in a way that does not demand a lot of power, the new chip will automatically throttle down to use a companion core. Once a user fires up a game, browses the Web, or performs a task that needs the extra power, the Tegra 3 processor disables the companion core and activates all four processing cores. In addition to the four cores and the companion core, Tegra 3 also has a 12-core GeForce graphics processing unit with support for stereoscopic 3D, new video engines for playing 1080p HD video and more. NVIDIA said Tegra 3 is in production now and one of the first products to ship with it will be the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime. Read on for the full press release and a video that shows off the chip’s gaming capabilities.

NVIDIA Quad-Core Tegra 3 Chip Sets New Standards of Mobile Computing Performance, Energy Efficiency

 Tegra 3’s fifth ‘companion’ core enables ultra-low power consumption, while advanced quad-core processors drive record-breaking performance

SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Nov. 8, 2011— NVIDIA today ushered in the era of quad-core mobile computing with the introduction of the NVIDIA® Tegra® 3 processor, bringing PC-class performance levels, better battery life and improved mobile experiences to tablets and phones.  The world’s first quad-core tablet with the Tegra 3 processor is the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime.

Known previously by the codename “Project Kal-El,” the Tegra 3 processor provides up to 3x the graphics performance of Tegra 2, and up to 61 percent lower power consumption. This translates into an industry-leading 12 hours of battery life for HD video playback.

The Tegra 3 processor implements a new, patent-pending technology known as Variable Symmetric Multiprocessing (vSMP). vSMP includes a fifth CPU “companion”, specifically designed for work requiring little power. The four main cores are specifically designed for work requiring high performance, and generally consume less power than dual-core processors.

During tasks that require less power consumption – like listening to music, playing back video or updating background data – the Tegra 3 processor completely shuts down its four performance-tuned cores and, instead, uses its companion core. For high-performance tasks – like web browsing, multitasking and gaming – the Tegra 3 processor disables the companion.

“NVIDIA’s fifth core is ingenious,” said Nathan Brookwood, Research Fellow at Insight 64. “Tegra 3’s vSMP technology extends the battery life of next-generation mobile devices by using less power when they’re handling undemanding tasks and then ratcheting up performance when it’s really needed.”

The Tegra 3 quad-core CPUs are complemented with a new 12-core NVIDIA GeForce® GPU, which delivers more realism with dynamic lighting, physical effects and high resolution environments, plus support for 3D stereo, giving developers the means to bring the next generation of mobile games to life.

For the millions who play games on mobile devices, the Tegra 3 processor provides an experience comparable to that of a game console. It offers full game-controller support, enabling consumers to play games on their tablet or super phone, or connect to big screen HDTVs for a truly immersive experience. It also leverages NVIDIA’s award-winning 3D Vision technology and automatically converts OpenGL applications to stereo 3D, so consumers can experience 3D on a big screen 3D TV (via HDMI™ 1.4 technology).

The Tegra 3 processor provides the industry’s….

·         Fastest web experience – with accelerated Adobe Flash  Player 11, HTML5 and WebGL browsing, and an optimized Javascript engine

·         Fastest applications – with blazing performance for multimedia apps, such as photo and video editing

·         Fastest multitasking – for switching between common uses, such as playing music and games, and background tasks

·         Fastest, highest-quality gaming – including new Tegra 3 processor-optimized NVIDIA Tegra Zone™ app  games such as Shadowgun, Riptide GP, Sprinkle, Big Top THD, Bladeslinger, DaVinci THD and Chidori.

Highlights / Key Facts:

·         The Tegra 3 processor redefines power consumption and mobile-computing performance with:

o    The world’s first quad-core ARM Cortex A9 CPU

o    New patent-pending vSMP technology, including a fifth CPU core that runs at a lower frequency and operates at exceptionally low power

o    12-core GeForce GPU, with 3x the graphics performance of the Tegra 2 processor, including support for stereoscopic 3D

o    New video engines with support for 1080p high profile video at 40 Mbps

o    Up to 3x higher memory bandwidth

o    Up to 2x faster Image Signal Processor

·         40 games are expected to be available by the end of 2011, and over 15 Tegra 3 games are under development for Tegra Zone, NVIDIA’s free Android Market app that showcases the best games optimized for the Tegra processor.

·         The Tegra 3 processor is in production. Developers can order the Tegra 3 Developer Kit to create applications for devices with Tegra such as tablets and super phones, at developer.nvidia.com/tegra.

There are a number of smartphones that are currently powered by dual-core processors, but we have yet to see a big-name smartphone running a processor with four cores. According to Pocketnow, the first such device could be the HTC Edge, which will reportedly launch in the first or second quarter next year with NVIDIA’s 1.5GHz quad-core Tegra 3 processor in tow. Rumors suggest the Edge has a 4.7-inch HD display, 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel camera and support for 21Mbps HSDPA networks. The phone may also ship with Beats Audio.

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During the AsiaD conference in Hong Kong, ASUS CEO Jonney Shih took the wraps off of one of the first tablets to utilize NVIDIA’s new quad-core Tegra 3 processor. The Transformer Prime, which is just 8.3mm thick, is equipped with a 10-inch display, an SD card slot, a mini-HDMI port and support for up to 14.5 hours of battery life, Engadget said. It can also be docked to a full QWERTY keyboard, just like the original Eee Pad Transformer tablet. Details on the Transformer Prime are still slim and it is not clear if the tablet will ship with Android Honeycomb or Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Shih said Ice Cream Sandwich tablets should be on the market by the end of the year, and given the company’s plans to officially announce the tablet on November 9th, we’re keeping our fingers crossed this launches as one of the first Android 4.0 tablets. Shih did not discuss pricing, markets or a potential release date.

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The Kindle Fire hasn’t even hit the market yet but the tablet’s successor is already reported to be set for a launch in the second half of next year. Reportedly, Foxconn has secured orders for the device and is working to get the tablet out of the door and onto store shelves during that time period, DigiTimes said on Wednesday. Quanta Computer is building the current generation Kindle Fire, although Amazon is largely believed to already have a second-generation quad-core “Hollywood” tablet in the pipeline. Early speculation has suggested the Hollywood tablet will have a 10-inch display and BGR exclusively reported in May that it will be powered by NVIDIA’s quad-core Tegra 3 chipset. Foxconn has not yet confirmed it received the orders from Amazon, but the report matches up with several rumors that suggested the tablet would ship later than initially expected.

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